RE-MATCHES, not easy. As in, not easy to organise. Like, on Monday it looked like the Oaks re-match and the Derby re-match might both be on this month.

Then Tuesday was not declared for today’s Juddmonte Irish Oaks, so the Oaks re-match was off.

Then Emily Upjohn was grounded, so we don’t even have one of the Oaks protagonists, which is a shame.

Desert Crown has been ruled out of the King George now too, when you thought that Westover was the more likely of the two Derby protagonists (apologies to Hoo Ya Mal) to miss it.

And now Emily Upjohn could be re-routed to the King George. So we could have the Derby third versus the Oaks second. It wouldn’t be a re-match, but it would be well worth the entrance fee.

And today’s Irish Oaks could still be won by an Emily.

They’re still in post-Royal-Ascot-post-July-Meeting mode across the water – every day can’t be a championship day – and Happy Romance ran at both meetings, but she has plenty in her favour in the Group 3 Bet365 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury today.

You can easily allow Richard Hannon’s filly her run in the July Cup last time. She raced from a low draw in a race in which the high numbers were dominant.

If you pause the video on the run to the furlong marker, you can see that the July Cup runners are more or less in a diagonal line across the track, far side to near side, and that diagonal line is fairly well maintained until they get to the winning line. Happy Romance really was up against it from stall one.

Previous run

She ran well for a long way in the Group 1 Platinum Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot on her previous run. She only finished seventh in the end, Ascot’s stiff six furlongs probably stretched her, but she was only beaten a total of two lengths.

She should be happier today back at Newbury, a track at which she has put up some of the best performances of her life, over today’s course and distance. And this is her day. On this day two years ago, she won the Weatherbys Super Sprint. On this day last year, she won the Hackwood Stakes.

She was good in this race last year. She travelled well towards the rear of the far-side group, and she burst through to lead just inside the furlong pole, keeping on well to win by a neck from Diligent Harry.

It’s an interesting race mind you. Rohaan won the Wokingham again last time, and he is a player, but he is probably at his best over a stiffer six furlongs.

Minzaal is a player as well, he didn’t improve for the fitting of cheek-pieces last time in the Platinum Jubilee, but he may want the ground to be a little easier than he is going to encounter today. He could be a horse worth keeping in mind for when we move into the autumn.

Man Of Promise is also an interesting contender. Charlie Appleby’s horse raced exclusively at Meydan as a four-year-old, and he won his first two races there earlier this year as a five-year-old.

He was sent off as favourite for the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint there in March, but he could only finish third behind A Case Of You. Happy Romance finished a place and a neck in front of him.

He should be better over six furlongs today than he was over five in the King’s Stand Stakes, his first run in Britain since August 2020, but he is still a little bit of a leap of faith. Happy Romance is much more solid.

Summer Plate

Mahler’s Promise looks over-priced in the Summer Plate at Market Rasen.

Seamus Mullins’ horse has been nicely progressive this late spring and early summer, and he probably put up a career-best performance last time when he won the trial for this race last month, over today’s course and distance.

Always prominent that day, he moved to the front on the run to the second last fence, and he kept on well over the last two to win nicely, probably with more in hand over Statuario than the two-length winning margin.

The handicapper has given him 5lb for that win, but that just brings him up to a mark of 127, back to his peak. More importantly, he is back at Market Rasen, where he won a bumper on his racecourse debut as well as winning over fences there last time, he is two for two at the track.

He goes well on good ground, he goes into the race in good form, his trainer’s horses continue to go well, and Micheal Nolan has struck up a fine partnership with him.

Recommended:

Happy Romance, 2.56 Newbury, 4/1 (generally), 1 point win,

Mahler’s Promise, 3.14 Market Rasen, 10/1 (generally), 1 point win